Apple’s Samsung smartphone ban demands delayed until December

A decision on whether eight of Samsung's smartphones will be permanently blocked from sale in the US has been pushed back until December 6, after the judge decided Apple's demands would spark a flurry of motions and counter-motions. Apple had asked the San Jose court to bar handsets including the Galaxy S II and the Droid Charge, after Samsung was found by a jury to have infringed on the Cupertino firm's patent design and UI technology. However, the Register reports, it seems that ban won't be coming any time soon.

The tentative date for the injunction hearing had been penciled in for September 20, giving Apple and Samsung the chance to file post-trial motions. Now, though, Judge Koh suggests that it would be better to hear all of the post-trial motions in one go, rather than deal with them piecemeal.

"Having considered the scope of Apple’s preliminary injunction request, the additional post-trial motions that the parties have already filed and will file, and the substantial overlap between the analysis required for Apple’s preliminary injunction motion and the parties’ various other post-trial motions, the Court believes consolidation of the briefing and hearing on the post-trial motions is appropriate" Justice Lucy Koh

As for Samsung's request that the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 be overturned, after the jury deemed it not to infringe on Apple's patents, that will be heard on September 20 Koh confirmed. That could also see Samsung dip into the $2.6m bond Apple was required to post in order to enact the injunction, claiming it missed out on sales revenue.

All eight of the devices Apple has asked to have blocked from sale are reasonably old, and delaying the hearing means Samsung sales are less likely to be affected overall. Apple has asked for a preliminary injunction on the devices while a permanent ban is decided, while Samsung is likely to counter that it should be allowed to make all possible attempts to challenge the ruling before that happens.